Note 501 — Chapter XVII
Reading edition
"Siêyes affected silence. I was commissioned to penetrate his mystery. I employed Réal, who, using much address with an appearance of great good-nature, discovered the basis of Siêyes's project, by getting Chenier, one of his confidants, to chatter, upon rising from dinner, at which wines and other intoxicating liquors had not been spared. Upon this information, a secret council was held, at which the conduct to be pursued by Buonaparte in the general conferences was discussed."—Fouché, tom. i., p. 138.